


this time i’m not leaving without you

by taizi



Category: One Piece
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Nakamaship, Post-Whole Cake Island
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 12:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16367543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taizi/pseuds/taizi
Summary: This crew is so much his family it makes him want to do somethingstupid.It makes him want to carve it into the world, somehow, that his name belongs next to theirs when they go down in infamy. He wants it known, that he’s theirs, and that incredibly – somehow, despite everything – they’re stillhis.





	this time i’m not leaving without you

Luffy’s doing his Luffy thing, the thing he always does after a close call with one of his precious nakama. 

He’s clinging. 

Sanji should have seen it coming, since he was there to see it with Nami and Robin and Usopp. Luffy doesn’t _physically_ wrap rubbery arms around him and refuse stalwartly to be budged, but he’s barely ever more than two feet away. 

It’s driving Chopper up the wall, because their captain is healing slowly and doesn’t need to be running around to follow Sanji’s footsteps like an imprinted duckling, and somehow the onus falls on Sanji’s shoulders to make sure the stupid duckling doesn’t set its own recovery back. 

So he parks Luffy at the kitchen table with a pile of doctor-approved snacks, and that’s that. With Sanji in his line of sight, and the only way in or out behind him, the boy captain is satisfied. He even dozes off there once he polishes off the food, finally giving into the side-effects of heavy medication, and it takes a weight off Sanji’s chest, too. 

You care too much, he wants to tell his captain. You’d be better off if you didn’t care so much. But then, where would I be if you didn’t?

The galley door opens. Footsteps pause for a moment, probably taking in Luffy fast asleep, and then the door closes again with infinite care. Sanji looks up in time to see Nami slide into the seat at Luffy’s left. 

And suddenly it feels as though he’s swallowed ice. 

“Idiot captain,” Nami says without heat, smoothing back his dark hair. Her eyes are melting and so full of love that Sanji quickly looks down at the counter he’s cleaning. “What is he so worried about? As if we would ever leave him.”

“I did, though,” Sanji says, before he realizes he’s going to speak. She looks up at him, and he feels young and small and stupid. His counter is suddenly the most interesting thing in the world as he stares down at it. “I left all of you.”

“So did I,” Nami surprises him by saying, cool and neutral. “I even stole the ship when I left. I as good as stranded you on the sea.” 

“But you did it because – “

“We both had our reasons, didn’t we?” 

Sanji subsides again, his heart beating so loud it’s a wonder she can’t hear it. Nami goes on looking at him dispassionately for a long minute that bleeds into two, and then she lets go of a quiet sigh. And she beckons him over, a curl of her hand that pulls Sanji around the counter and across the room with a force similar to gravity. 

He sits down on Luffy’s other side, and almost immediately their idiot captain turns toward him. He’s deep into his dreaming, his hands loose, face half-hidden where it’s pillowed against his folded arms, and Sanji feels a wave of love for him so fierce it hits him like a punch. 

This crew is so much his family it makes him want to do something _stupid._ It makes him want to carve it into the world, somehow, that his name belongs next to theirs when they go down in infamy. He wants it known, that he’s theirs, and that incredibly – somehow, despite everything – they’re still _his_.

Nami’s eyes have gone soft again. 

She says, “You’re still my family, Sanji. You still belong here, with us. It’s just hard for me to forgive you after everything that’s happened. That doesn’t mean I _won’t_ forgive you, or that you’re not worthy of forgiveness. You forgave me, back then, and I’ll forgive you. Just – wait for me?”

Sanji reaches over their sleeping captain’s small shoulders to take her hand in his. She squeezes back, and smiles at him like she’s never known hurt.

And Sanji will still do anything to keep them safe, anything to protect them in any way that he can. But he doesn’t think he could ever leave them again, no matter what the cost of staying might be.


End file.
